Pre 2007 Prestige Rankings

Interested to hear from people who have been in finance longer than me how prestigious different banks were way back pre-financial crisis. Particularly interested to hear how the following were perceived at the time:

  • Failed banks e.g. Lehman, Bear Sterns, Credit Suisse- were they always known as failures?
  • EBs- were they a big deal at the time or is this more recent?
  • BBs- whose perception has changed the most here?

    Obviously useless information now, would just be fascinating to hear.
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BBs - GS, MS, Lehman, JPM, ML (Bear and CS were also highly regarded but not at same level as the ones mentioned, but some groups were very strong). 

EBs - BX, GHL, LAZ, EVR (Note that CVP, PWP, and MOE were just starting in 06/07) and yes, EBs were highly desired and selective at this time. These EB's were advising on multi-billion-dollar deals left and right. Absolutely killing it.  05-08 was peak Bob Greenhill.

 

Lehman at least I recall was regarded extremely highly right up to the end - honestly even in mid-2008 nobody thought it would go under. Also recall that for these failed banks, it wasn't a couple of sloppy years of IB fees that sent them under, but the blowups elsewhere.

If you want a bit of IB history, there was this website (clearly college humour type stuff but takes me back) that posted a bit of short story type material:
https://www.leveragedsellout.com/2004/01/re-lehman-brothers-recruiting/

 

This is actually an important discussion to think about in the big scheme of things. What is today a prestige bank can very likely be a cautionary tale in the near future.

Similarly, guys like Evercore and Moelis were literally nobodies in recent memory. Puts things in perspective.

 

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